


Replaced

by h00ligan



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29111958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h00ligan/pseuds/h00ligan
Summary: 10 years after Dean leaves Lisa and Ben, he sends Claire on a hunt, trying not to trigger any of Ben's erased memories of their year together.It backfires, and Ben doesn't take it well
Relationships: Ben Braeden & Claire Novak, Ben Braeden & Dean Winchester, Castiel & Claire Novak, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Claire Novak & Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Notes about the setting: We don't recognize the canon here. Jack brought Cas back from the Empty, and Sam was able to call 911 in time to save him from being stuck on the piece of rebar. Claire makes semi-frequent visits to the bunker when she has time between hunts.

Another week, another job. Dean didn’t take as many jobs ever since he almost died fighting vampires, taking it as a sign that his age had gotten to him, and he decided to make an honest man out of himself. Living off credit card scams was fun in his 20s and 30s, but well, now at 42 it wasn’t really fine, so now he was a butcher.

He kept an eye on Indiana, even though he was gone out of Lisa and Ben’s lives for good. That bridge was burned; there was no going back to them, not that he particularly wanted to. He was happy with Cas, it was a kind of happiness he had never expected, a genuine form of what he’d faked with Lisa for a year.

And Dean _was_ going to take the job, honest, until Sam did some research about the neighborhood, more specifically, about the neighbors of the victim. “ _Shit_ ,” the brothers said in unison.

“I have to get down there,” Dean said. “They don’t remember me, there’s no risk—”

“Dean, no,” Sam sighed. “You can’t—you can’t keep doing this to Lisa.”

“Her neighbor was just murdered! And what do you wanna bet it’s because of me?”

“I’m not going to _tell_ them anything.”

“Dean,” Cas started, suddenly behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You can’t.”

“What?”

“I don’t know how well their erased memory will hold when they’re looking at you for an extended period of time. It’s enough you’ve been keeping tabs, but it’s been ten years, and these things can degrade.”

“So, what, wait for them to be next on the menu?”

“Call Claire. She can manage things well on her own.”

* * *

Which was how Claire was put on the job of a demon killing in central Indiana—the literal meaning of the middle of nowhere. The “H” in nowhere. She knew being a Hunter didn’t lead to a lot of exactly urban centers but, well, Cas said it was somewhere he and Dean couldn’t return to, ground too well-worn.

When she knocked on the door to the victim’s neighbors, she realized what was meant by that when someone her age with brown hair and eyes but an otherwise seeming carbon copy of Dean showed up to the door to answer. _That son of a bitch had a kid_.

“Hi, I’m Claire Wesson with the paper, here to follow up on your neighbor’s case, Mr…” she looked at the notes she had of the information she’d gathered. “Braedon.”

“Uh, yeah. Come in, I guess.”

Claire followed Ben inside, and it’s hard to see any trace of anything _Dean_ around. Didn’t smell anything like the bunker, wasn’t exactly the kind of place he’d settle down in. And the yellow F-250 out in front, _definitely_ not Dean’s style. “Sorry about the mess, my mom’s at work. You can sit down wherever.”

She sat down, anxiously playing with the pencil she brought in. “So, in recent days, was there anything, you know, different about your neighbor?” She’d looked at the case, it looked like a classic shifter case, and those were best worked alone.

He shook his head. “Sorry, I wish I could be more help, but everything seemed normal. The Oldhams were a normal old couple.”

It was that moment, because if there was Dean Winchester was a master of, it was bad timing, that he called. “I have to take this,” she excused herself, moving to the kitchen. “What do you want, Winchester?” She asked.

“Just wanted to make sure you got there safe. Cas knew you wouldn’t text back so he made me call.”

“Yes, I’m safe. This town is practically a _road_ with a couple houses.” She paused. “Dean, does why you can’t handle a shifter have anything to do with that mini-me in the living room?”

He paused. “He’s not mine.”

“Great, so you have a shifter seeking revenge on your ex-family. I mean, you really must’ve done a number, they don’t even have any pictures of you—”

“Claire, you’re here for a case. You don’t say my name around them. You got it. Get it, kill it, come back here after.”

“Alright, but you owe me details once I come back. You don’t get to call me on a solo hunt to watch after your messes.”

“Solo’s the—”

“—the best way to go after a shifter, I know that, Dean.” Claire hung up before Dean could chide her about her attitude, then went back to the living room, though Ben’s attitude had taken a sharp turn, and he looks like he has a headache.

“Dean Winchester’s on the other end of that line, huh?”

“I—” well, shit. She couldn’t confirm or deny, because either way would make her look like a massive asshole.

“Don’t expect him to stick around.” Ben shakes his head. “Listen, I… _think_ I know what kind of business you have going on here, and you’re nice and all, but I’m not feeling too hot. It might be better for you to come back later?”

Claire gets headaches, sometimes. No, not sometimes, most of the time. The white noise of angel radio still comes through, a little souvenir from when Castiel took a free ride in her body. It made concentrating for the hunt hard, but sometimes she’d let the sound just take over. “Cas, Ben’s got an attitude problem,” she mumbles. Her phone buzzes, a text from Dean. _Does he know?_ She doesn’t know why she lies, mumbles “He doesn’t know, tell Dean he’s freaking out over nothing.”

* * *

She’s falling asleep on the stakeout when there’s a knock on her window. Ben is scared. “Listen, I know what you do, Dean left a gun in my mom’s room, it’s not doing anything. It looks like my mom, but she’s out of town for the weekend on a date.”

That wakes Claire up, all back to business. “Well, yeah, it’s a shapeshifter, guns don’t do anything unless Dean left silver bullets in it. Did Dean leave silver bullets in it?”

“I… don’t think so?”

“Civilians. Okay, you’re going to stay in the car, and you’re not going to let anyone in, not even me, unless you take a video of me on your phone. Got it?” She’s opening the back door for him, pulling out a silver knife and a gun.

This shapeshifter must’ve been five kinds of stupid, because it started shedding just as she got in, taking on Ben’s form by the time she was upstairs. “Claire, thank God, it’s in the attic.”

“Oh, you must think I’m _Winchester_ stupid, huh?” there’s no hesitation as she plunges the silver knife into the shifter’s heart. “I don’t take time for questions, dumbass.”

She comes back to the car, making sure Ben tests for retinal flare, before opening the door. “You’re coming up and helping me clean up the mess.”

“What?”

“There’s a body, that looks just like you, on the floor of the upstairs bathroom. You’re going to get the tarp out of my trunk, and we’re going to wrap it up in it, put it in my trunk, and I’m going to drive it out into the woods, and burn it. Least you can do for me saving your ass.”

“What—”

“It was going to kill you, wait for your mom to get home, and kill her, because it thought the two of you had _something_ , God knows what, to do with Dean.”

“So, the nightmares I had, about demons?”

Claire opened the trunk and shoved the tarp in Ben’s arms. “Well, what do _you_ think, kid?”

“You’re _my_ age!” he protested as they headed into the house.

“And Dean had to send _me_ to save _your_ ass. Which makes you a kid, if you know him and he didn’t teach you shit.” It’s hard work, and gruesome, wrapping the body up in the tarp. Ben’s too busy grunting with effort and Claire can barely hear through the angel voices anyway. When they get back to her car, she takes Ben’s phone and programs her number into it, then texting it so she kept the contact.

“Hey, what are you—”

“Next time you get in trouble, you text me, okay?” She returned the phone after taking a selfie as the contact picture and snapping one of Ben for her phone. “Dean obviously has some issues with whatever you have going on, so what we’re not going to do is make him worry. Guy’s retired.”

“Yeah, well I thought he was retired ten years ago.”

“Listen, Ben you seem like a good kid, but whatever issue you have with Dean, if he’s your dad, whatever, I don’t care. He’s been through shit, like a lot of it. If Dean sent me out here instead of coming here himself, it’s because he cares. He could’ve waited a few more days for an actual trail to form and for some other hunters to get on the case, but he sent someone. It’s not nothing.”

“How do you know him?”

Isn’t that a million-dollar question? By all rights, Claire shouldn’t really be a priority. She’s, what, the daughter of his husband’s dead vessel? Have fun explaining that one. “He got me out of a few sticky situations, and I didn’t have a home to come back to, so he taught me. Took me on my first hunt.” Claire got in the driver’s seat. “Get off, and that number is for emergencies only.” Claire started the car, and started the radio, the sounds drowning out whatever was in her head.


	2. Chapter 2

It takes days for Ben to get all his memories back of the year missing from his memory. First, the good times, then, Dean shoving him in the middle of the night. Dean yelling at him when he found his guns. Dean leaving. Getting kidnapped because of Dean. After that, it takes weeks chasing him down, any Google search of “Dean Winchester” just lands on him being on an FBI most wanted list.

So, he works backwards. Looks up Claire Novak, apparently, she lived with a sheriff in Sioux Falls. The sheriff—Jody Mills—seemed nice enough, and when he asked for a way to find Dean after explaining he was a distant cousin, she pointed him to somewhere in Lebanon, Kansas. “Can’t miss it,” she said with a smile in her voice. “It’s good those boys have family, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s rough out there.”

The next problem was getting out for a long drive without Mom knowing. He couldn’t let her remember, too. So, he said he was going for a road trip, which wasn’t a total lie. She gave him some money for gas and motels, even.

Now was the hard part. Finding Dean Winchester.

Ben wasn’t able to find the bunker, so before he gave up and turned around, he figured he might as well fuel up for the ride back at the grocery store. What he didn’t expect was seeing Dean Winchester behind the butcher counter. And for a while, none of the bad mattered. What mattered was the afternoons working on that shitty, ugly truck he brought all the way here. Playing catch in the yard so Ben could work on his curveball. Asking him if he was allowed to go to the movies. “Dean,” he was barely able to choke out.

When Dean looked up, his expression was unreadable, for a bit, but he could definitely see fear in his eyes. “Ben?”

* * *

Dean took off work early, said it was a family emergency, and practically _dragged_ Ben over to Baby. “We can’t have the discussion in public.”

“Wait, Dean, I—”

“How do you even know who I _am_ , Ben? How did you find me, huh? Are you a shifter?”

“No, Claire, she _killed_ the shifter.”

Dean opened the trunk of the car, and he couldn’t resist looking inside. He wasn’t ever allowed to see it as a kid, but he knew there was a gun in there. But beyond that—guns, knives, a duffel, some sort of occult symbol on top. It made things more real, somehow. He pulled a knife out and splashed his face with some water, and rolled up Ben’s sleeve. “This is gonna hurt, but I have to make sure you’re not—” Ben grimaced as pain shot up his arm where Dean left a shallow cut.

“Jesus, Dean. What the _fuck_?”

“Hey, language,” he scolded. “If anyone here should be asking what the fuck is going on, it’s _me_. Your memories were _gone_ , Ben. I made sure of it. And ten years later, you just _roll up_ at my work?”

“Jody actually said you had a bunker, I was looking for that.”

Dean sighed and slapped the car. “Okay. You wanna see it? Get in.” the ride was awkward, until Dean spoke up. “So, your mom, is she—”

“She’s a manager at a reiki studio, as far as I know, she doesn’t know who you are.”

“That’s good. She have a husband yet?”

“Yeah, a lawyer. You got a wife yet?”

“I’m glad she’s happy and safe. No, no wife, though,” there was a small smile on his face that Ben couldn’t quite make out. “Claire give you her number?”

“Yeah.”

“Dial it and put it on speaker.”

When Claire answered, Ben was about to speak, but Dean beat him. “Hey, Claire. We have a little bit of a situation in the bunker that I don’t think you told us about. Meet us there, ASAP.”

“I was going to have a weekend off with Kaia—”

“Yeah, and then you fucked up on a hunt. Let me know when you’re half an hour out.” He hung up.

When they got to what Ben could only assume was the bunker, Dean brought him in. There was a taller man he could only assume was Sam, and a slightly shorter one with dark hair and blue eyes that he didn’t recognize. “Ben, you remember Sam, and this is Castiel.” Dean rested his hand on the man’s shoulder for a beat too long, but it wasn’t something Ben really took note of. “Cas, our friend here seems to have gotten his memories back.”

Castiel tilted his head. “Are you sure?”

“I’m pretty sure,” Ben piped up. “You know, for someone who freaked out the second I looked at a gun, you sure do seem to still have a lot in that clunker of yours.”

“Hey, one, you were eleven, two, it was in your hands, _safety off_ , and three, Baby isn’t a _clunker_ , she’s a _classic_. That thing I drove between construction jobs that somehow survived the drive here, _that’s_ a clunker.”

“Claire said you taught her how to hunt, and she’s, what, two years older than me? Kinda selective with the no guns rule.”

“You and Claire are _very_ different cases. And you know what, I don’t have to explain myself to you while you have this kind of attitude.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Sam interjected. “You know what? It’s been a long time, Ben obviously isn’t a kid anymore, and it’s a long drive for Claire. So, why don’t we just sit down, order some dinner and talk when the two of you aren’t yelling at each other? Ben, do you want to grab a seat?” he gestured to a sofa, where Ben reluctantly sat down.

“I’m done yelling if Dean wants to explain himself.”

“It’s a long story, Ben.”

“Well, lucky for you, I told my mom I’d be out for a week.”

“Hey, uh, I hate to interrupt, but what do you want on your pizza?”

In unison, Ben and Dean turned to Sam. “Meat lovers.”

“Well, hey, at least someone around here has taste,” Dean said with a bit of a smile.

“What, you expect me to put green crap on my pizza?”

Castiel tilted his head again. “Dean, are you sure this boy isn’t yours?”

“You reassembled me after Hell, Cas. You know better than anyone he _definitely_ isn’t mine.”

“Hell?”

“God, I really never told you anything, did I?” Dean rubbed his forehead. “Okay, fine. I met your mom, you know, back when you were eight, because I made a deal with a demon to save Sam’s life and I only had a year to live. I ended up dead, but only for about four months, because Cas, here,” he shot him a fond smile. “Put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

“You know, I never knew why you actually left. I thought you were like, gay or something and just didn’t wanna tell mom so you just started ditching us until she got sick of it.” Sam looked distinctly uncomfortable.

Dean cleared his throat. “Well, uh, your mom and me, we came to the conclusion I wasn’t ready to be done hunting yet, and I’d only bring problems home. I mean, I got turned into a vampire, and I almost _killed_ you because my dumb ass went to say goodbye.”

“That’s why you shoved me?” he whispered. “Dean, that’s nothing, if that’s why you left my mom!”

“Ben, you were eleven, and you weren’t my real kid. How do you think your mom should’ve reacted? I didn’t exactly have a great dad to learn parenting behaviors off of.”

“Dean, you did a good enough job raising me, and if I didn’t come back, I’m sure you would’ve done even better with Ben,” Sam said, sitting beside Ben, leaving the seat beside Dean open.

“If I did such a good job raising you, you’d have a wife and a ten-year-old and be partner at a law firm. But everyone I touch, no matter how hard I try, they _all_ end up like this, or dead, or both. Kevin, Charlie, Claire, Jody, I couldn’t even get it away from Ben, apparently.” Dean apparently forgot that Ben was sitting at the other end of the room from him.

“I believe Claire is my fault, Dean,” Cas said with a small smile.

“You’re not the one who let her kill a Grigori.”

“So, Heaven, Hell, it’s… all real?” Ben asked.

“Well, yeah. Cas, here, is an angel, and Jack is… away. In Heaven. And I’m sure you remember the demons.”

Ben _did_ remember that much. The things that whatever was in his mom’s body was saying… “I remember what the demon possessing my mom said, yeah.”

“Ben, demons lie. That’s the whole point of them being demons.”

“You’re not the one who heard their mom say she wished you weren’t born.”

“No, but my dad said it. A lot, actually. Except the difference was, the only thing possessing him when he said it was Jack Daniels.”

“I didn’t know, I’m sorry.”

“No, you didn’t. Because a good dad, he keeps all his baggage _away_ from his kids, so they don’t end up like him. That’s why your mom left me, Ben. It’s not because I didn’t love her, or she didn’t love me. It’s because the monsters under the bed and in the closet? The ghosts scratching your window and the wolves howling at the moon, you never would’ve heard of those, they would’ve never showed up at your doorstep if your mom didn’t know a Winchester.”

To get himself out of the situation, Sam excused himself in order to go get the pizza.

“So, what, did you turn into your dad?” Ben asked.

Dean looked like Ben had just slapped him. “I try not to think it, but yeah, I guess. He made me into a hunter, and I’m still kind of in that life. Once you’re in, there’s no way out. Especially if you shoot your first gun before you know how to count to 100.” Castiel took a seat beside Dean, sorrow clear on his face. “I’m not dad material, Ben. I don’t know why you came, to get closure, or to kill me, or what.”

“I just… I thought you’d care enough to know there was a shifter after us so other monsters might find us again.”

Dean stood up and went to the fridge, pulling out a beer. “Hey, can I have one?” Dean gave him a look, then obviously did some math in his head, and shrugged, getting out another.

“You’re legal now, kid. So. You work? Go to school?”

“Construction.”

“Huh. Company I used to work for?”

“I dunno. Maybe.”

“Like your stepdad?”

“He’s not as good with me as you were, but he’s fine. Partner at a law firm means he makes tons of money, so mom’s comfortable. He didn’t meet me until I was 16, so things were bound to be awkward. Didn’t really get the chance to, you know, be dad.” Unsaid words hung in the air. _Not like you_.

They sat awkwardly, neither particularly wanting to talk until Sam returned with the pizza. “The two of you, I swear… Ben, you don’t wanna eat like Dean, the only reason he hasn’t ended up in an early grave is because Cas remade all his arteries.”

“I’d rather go out early, happy I eat like garbage, than drink a _single_ one of those grody ass smoothies, Stanford boy.”

“Hey, I’m 21, my arteries are _fine_.”

Once they all had their food, Dean turned on some soap opera that he’s pretty sure he’d seen his mom watch, Dean’s hand comfortably around Cas’s shoulder, though Cas himself didn’t get any food.

“Hey, Cas, you want anything?” Ben offered.

“Angels don’t do food, Ben,” Dean replied.

“It, uh, tastes like molecules,” Cas affirmed, somewhat, well he didn’t have a better word for it than _grumpy_.

After dinner, it hit Ben just how tired he was. “I hate to ask you this, but can you give me a ride back to the grocery store so I can get a motel?”

Dean shook his head. “We have plenty of empty rooms here. You can just crash. It’s what, twelve hours from Cicero? Sam and I will head out tonight and bring the truck back here and make sure she’s tuned up.”

“I keep her tuned up!” he protested.

Sam nudged Ben. “He fidgets with cars when he’s nervous. Just let him.” He got a slice of pepperoni chucked at his head for that.

“By the way, Claire will be here when you wake up, probably. We’ll talk in the morning,” Dean said.

The bedroom in the bunker wasn’t really as comfortable as his one back home, but he had the feeling it was the closest to luxury Dean and Sam had ever gotten. It took about an hour to fall asleep, but once he did, it was filled with nightmares of being chained up by demons.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time Ben woke up, it wasn’t light out yet, but when he tried to open the door, he saw that his duffel bag that was a reminder from his years in wrestling was at the foot of it. He grabbed a change of clothes and went into the common living area, not expecting anyone to be around, but there was Castiel, still in a trench coat and suit.

“Don’t you ever get overheated, dressed like that?”

“Oh, no, my vessel, once I take it, it loses all its physical needs. Heat, cold, sleep, eating.” The angel shrugged. “Shouldn’t you still be asleep?”

“Couldn’t. Nightmares.”

There was that particular _look_ Castiel gave him again. “If you would like me to erase the memory of your kidnapping, I would gladly do so.”

“Did you fuck with my head the first time around, Castiel?” Ben asked, suddenly still. Nobody just _offered_ to erase memories like that.

“Only because Dean told me to. He said as long as you knew who he was, someone would always come after you. The wall must’ve gotten so fragile, over ten years.” He placed a hand on Ben’s head, and more flashes ran through him, and he only made a curious _hm_ noise.

“Where’s Dean?”

“He’s still asleep. It’s hard, getting him to sleep the proper amount his body needs.”

“When he stayed with me and my mom, he only got about four hours.” He said, searching for cereal, pop tarts, anything. “What do you people keep for breakfast around here?”

“Breakfast?”

Right, Dean didn’t cook. “Do you keep eggs here?” Every house had to have eggs. Right? He went to the fridge. No eggs. Ben found his keys and made his way to the exit of the bunker.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked.

“Convenience store. For some eggs, cheese, maybe an onion? Bread.” And, with a fluttering sound, the angel had disappeared. That had scared the crap out of him, but he managed not to scream. But, just as he had recovered, he did make a small yelp when Cas had returned. “What kind of man is in his forties and doesn’t cook?” he muttered, hoping for a pan, and finding one, taking a knife and cutting up a little bit of onion.

When Ben cracked two eggs into the pan, Castiel spoke up while he turned on the heat. “Dean, he was never in a position to learn how to cook. He does make bacon, though.”

“Yeah, mom taught him. She got irritated that all I could make her on Mother’s Day was cereal and toast because Dean wasn’t able to help.” He smiled a little bit at the memory, Mom’s joking scolding, Dean looking embarrassed. He almost didn’t recognize him as _Dean_ , his features had hardened back out since he left. Harder than when he came back in the middle of the night, despair plain on his face.

“You loved Dean,” Castiel seemed to realize, keeping a wholly neutral tone.

“He was the closest thing I had to a dad,” he admitted. “And then he took that from me. I spent ten years not knowing how I could fix up a car, why I had a good curveball, knew all the things a son should learn from his dad. He just left, without a trace, to go from a normal life to… whatever this is. Did he hate us so much?” Ben asked, dumping the eggs on the plate and taking them over to the table.

“That’s a question for Dean to answer. It’s, how humans put it, above my pay grade.”

“Whatever, is Claire here? He seemed pretty determined not to talk until she got here.”

“She got here half an hour ago, she’s resting up. it’s a six-hour drive, apparently strenuous for people your age.”

“She never told me what… she is to Dean.”

“Dean is my closest friend. Claire is the daughter of my vessel. She fell on hard times because I took a vessel, we try to keep her safe.”

“Then why does she hunt?”

“Honestly? Because we couldn’t stop her. We warned her that this life, it’s short, it doesn’t go well for anyone. But.” He shrugged. “I’m sure you recognized already that Claire doesn’t let people tell her what to do.”

“How did you get into the life?”

“For Dean,” he replied simply. “I saved him, and after, I tried to follow my orders, and the orders were so monstrous, now knowing what humankind were actually like, that I fell. I rebelled like my brother had. And then, I restored my standing, tried to go back, fight the war like I needed to, and every time, the Winchesters called me back.”

Ben was only really able to listen. “Sounds to me like the life sucks,” he said, at length.

Castiel was going to reply, but Dean came up, clad in a t-shirt and sweatpants. “Hey, kid. You know, I could’ve got takeout from a diner if you want breakfast. I mean, you came all this way, I might as well treat you a little. No need to make…” he peered at the plate. “You still make cheesy eggs and toast every morning?”

“It gets me to lunch at my job.”

“Let me tell you, _nobody_ made ‘em like Lisa. Mind making me some, when you’re done?”

“Mom taught you, I’m pretty sure you can figure it out.”

“Come on, that was eleven years ago, dude. You know how much gray matter even one exorcism takes up?”

“Castiel said you know how to make bacon. Eggs are easier.”

“Traitor,” Dean grumbled and affectionately rubbed his shoulders.

“So, what do you… I mean you’re retired, how do you live?” Ben asked.

Dean shrugged. “I’m a pretty damn good butcher, the grocery store doesn’t ask a lot of questions. Cas here teaches theology at the local seminary because they figured he’s a good primary source for everything.”

“If they keep me after this semester.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault everyone took Paul too seriously.” Cas smiled affectionately. “Before that, we mostly ran off hustled pool and fake credit cards. But it’s not exactly cool to do that when you’re 40, you know? Gotta be respectable.” Dean, it turned out, wasn’t very good at making eggs, and they turned up a dry, crumbly mess on his plate.

“You know, the cheese is so that _doesn’t_ happen.”

“Whatever, kid. Food’s food.” A few minutes later, Claire emerged, obviously struggling with a headache of some sort.

“Hey, Claire,” Ben said, with a little bit of a smile. When she didn’t have a knife in her hand or wasn’t covered in blood, she was actually… kind of pretty. Dean and Castiel both turned to _glare_ at Ben.

“Oh, Jesus Christ, what the _fuck_ , dude?” she grumbled, before looking at Dean. “This?” she gestured to Ben. “ _This_ is what I cancelled my weekend off for? We were gonna go to Canada.”

“Well, you didn’t say he remembered.”

“I thought I’d never see the guy again, and I didn’t want you to throw a fit. How did the guy even find you, anyway?”

“I… called Jody Mills, and she gave directions,” Ben mumbled, kind of embarrassed.

“You gave him your real name?” Dean said, eyebrow raised.

“Whatever. I thought no harm would come of it. You didn’t tell me you screwed over the kid so bad he drove from the middle of nowhere to another middle of nowhere. You usually drop the aliases when you’re not impersonating federal agents.”

“Impersonating federal—”

“Yeah, because I’m not a 23-year-old girl who’s a vessel, am I, Claire?”

“Dean, you are technically a vessel,” Castiel pointed out. “And she’s only a vessel for me.” He turned to Claire. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

She tapped her forehead. “It’s a little loud for me to get to sleeping.”

If this was what it meant to have a dad, Ben was suddenly at least a little grateful he didn’t have one.

“Claire, Castiel and I have to talk. Take Ben, I don’t know, somewhere.” She nodded and grabbed Ben by the arm the same way Dean did, out into the hallway.

“You really did it, Ben. Dean only calls him Castiel when he gets irritated.”

“Castiel isn’t your dad,” Ben felt the need to point out.

“Yeah, and Dean isn’t yours. But God forbid you tell either of them that. Once they get the idea in their head, they’re your dads, and they’re impossible to get rid of. Believe me. I tried.”

_Dads?_ “Dads, you mean like, you know, one of those co-parenting things that’s not exactly romantic.”

“Holy fuck, you’re dense.” Ben looked back in the kitchen, where Dean was sitting at the table, ranting about something, and Cas just had his hand on his shoulder. “Dads, like in dads. Like in two dads, instead of a mom and a dad. What the hell do they feed you people in Indiana?”

“But, Dean’s not—he was with my mom for—he worked _construction_.”

Claire’s eyes went wide and she clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, my god, they didn’t tell you,” she whispered.

“I asked if he had a wife, he didn’t say he had a _husband_!” he suddenly exclaimed, and whatever hushed discussion Dean and Castiel were having stopped.

“Claire, Ben, you can come back,” Dean said, exhausted. “I’ll wake up Sam because apparently _this_ is how the conversation is happening.” As he walked away, Ben could still hear him. “I wanted us to eat out at Applebee’s, but nooooo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does he, you know, work construction?


	4. Chapter 4

It was Dean’s worst fear that Ben would remember, and it came true. He remembered, and hell, he even _found_ him, because he’s every bit the stubborn bastard Dean was, especially at that age. Though the difference was, with Dean, any sort of stubbornness evaporated around his father. It was at least a little bit of a gift that Ben didn’t fear him like that, right?

He went to Sam’s room and knocked. “Cat’s out of the bag, Sammy. We gotta have a family talk, and that includes you.” Claire, for her part, was already on the phone while they all waited for Sam.

“Yeah, I _know_ I said up to Alaska. Just, a family thing came up… listen, it’s just a weird thing with some kid Dean abandoned or something… hey, _I_ didn’t think _I_ had a stepbrother either until like half an hour ago. Dean never exactly mentioned he dumped a whole-ass family.” She sighed. “Yeah, Kaia. Love you, too. When this is handled, long weekend, I swear. You, me, and Aurora Borealis.” With that, Claire hung up, and rejoined Dean.

He couldn’t deny that it hurt. He’d spent _months_ trying to justify how what he did wasn’t abandoning them. Ben wasn’t his kid, it was only a year, it was the only way to keep them safe without dragging them into the life, but at the end, it wasn’t the road to Heaven that was paved with good intentions. In some ways, he felt like how John had treated Adam. Only around when it was convenient. Hell, that’s how John treated Sam and Dean, too. The difference was, Adam was a convenience for John to look like he had a normal life. Sam and Dean were conveniences in John’s hunt for revenge.

“Nice going, outing me there,” Dean grumbled.

“Hey, you were shacked up with a hippie dippy lady if that house was any indication. Besides, you haven’t cared what anyone thought of your relationship with Cas for years. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal. I didn’t know he had a terminal case of heterosexuality that I had to hide it from him.”

“Damn it, Claire, I didn’t have my ring on. That should’ve been plenty indication that _I_ didn’t want him knowing. I didn’t out you to your mom, did I?”

“That’s not the same, you saw her for about five minutes before she died. Oh, _and_ she knew I was a lesbian since I was ten because ‘girls kissing’ ended up on the google history on the family computer.”

Dean was suddenly confused. “Jimmy was fine with it?”

Claire rolled her eyes. “Jimmy, for all the shit I gave him, talked to about five priests before he got it, and then pulled me out of Catholic school because he didn’t want things to be hard for me.”

Dean pointed between the two of them. “You, me, we’re gonna have a conversation, okay? But first, I need you to apologize to me and Cas.”

She sighed. “Okay, fine. Cas,” she called out, gesturing to him to come over. When he was, she started. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you and Dean were trying to keep things under wraps around Ben, I only knew you two _as_ a thing. I shouldn’t have outed you. Happy?”

Dean gave her a smile and rubbed the top of her head. “Very.”

“Jerk,” she mumbled, trying to get her hair back in place, though there was underlying affection.

“Bitch.”

* * *

Sam took his sweet ass time getting ready, that much was enough. “Why am I here for this talk again?”

Dean shrugged. “I dunno, maybe because you took that gender studies class in Stanford and nagged me every time I said something was gay until I had to _tell_ you I was bi? I mean, you’re the only straight one here.”

“I’m not—”

“I know, I know, Gabe was your exception, whatever. I mean, Claire’s not going to be the most understanding or sympathetic. Something tells me Ben complaining to _her_ about how his dad who was only a dad for a year left to keep him away from the life isn’t going to go well when she has enough parent issues on her own. Besides, you always say we need to talk about our issues as a family. Ben just decided he’s family.”

“Alright. Fine. Have whatever talk you want and I guess I’ll mediate because I’m pretty sure Claire would mediate a fist through his face.”

Claire and Cas were sitting together on the couch while Dean and Ben just _looked_ at each other from across the table before Ben broke the silence. “A husband, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“How long?”

“Awhile, in hunter years.” Dean didn’t want to say they’d been in a relationship since before he got back with Lisa. It wasn’t fair.

“And you’re retired?”

“We had too many close calls and I’m getting too old for this shit. I almost got taken out by a vamp and a piece of rebar. You know what that would’ve been if I went out like that? Embarrassing.”

"So, what, you couldn't have a normal life with us, but you could have a life with some guy?” Ben gestured to Cas as his voice raised. Dean almost flinched at how he said _some guy_. It was a tone he thought he didn’t care about the bite behind for years, but it hurt more when Ben said it. “You have a stepkid my age, too?"

Dean's voice started to raise, too. "He's not some guy, and I thought I taught you better than to think I can't have that life with one!"

"So, what? Me and Mom, we were your beard? All the little league games, it was a lie? We were your cover until it was fine with people to live your lifestyle?” Dean hated the word lifestyle, too.

"I keep telling you, it's not like that, Ben!" Dean takes a deep breath. " You’re tired. Maybe you should try to go back to sleep until you decide not to be like this."

"I think you lost your right to send me to my room when you left Mom for a guy."

Dean, for the first time, looked to the pair, because Sam sure as hell wasn’t intervening, and Claire took Ben by the arm, pulling him to the rooms. "You're coming with me, Mike Pence."

* * *

It had been a while since Claire had put up with someone being like that, usually when people brought up the word “lifestyle”, she and Kaia left wherever they were in favor of sleeping in their van for the night. But someone had to set the kid straight, and the actual adults weren’t doing anything. So, she brought him to her room. "You're not the only one whose dad left them, you know. But when it happened to me, I didn't start getting homophobic about it."

"I'm sorry, but your dad, he's literally right there. I mean, like his body, at least. Doesn’t it bother you to see him with someone who isn’t your mom?"

Claire shook her head. "Castiel isn't my dad. He's trying to be, he's trying to protect me, but his host, Jimmy Novak, my dad, he left one night and never came back. And then my mom went looking for him and dumped me at my dying grandma’s house.” She left what she could out. Something tells her that even half of what happened to her would drive the kid crazy.

"And you don't hate him for that?"

"For years I did. for years I blamed him for killing my dad, driving my mom crazy, but I just can't be anymore. Cas isn't the same as he was twelve years ago. And Dean isn't the same as he was three years ago, let alone ten. And he's a hunter. If he's not telling you the truth about what he does, he's not being honestly himself. Just, who he wanted to be."

“But, you know, the guy thing.”

Claire couldn’t believe the nerve on this kid. She rolled her eyes. “ _Oh, my God._ Do I have to spell it out for you? Cas isn’t my dad, Dean isn’t your dad. They’re grown ass men, they can do what they want. Dean isn’t in your life anymore.” Something told her she shouldn’t exactly tell him about her being gay, if how Ben was taking the news about Dean was any indication. “Dean, he’s bi. Okay? I’m sure he loved your mom. He loved you. That’s why he left.”

“He shouldn’t have. He should’ve taught me, like he taught you.”

Claire reached into her bag and pulled out the Grigori sword, and put it in his hand. And, almost immediately, it fell until Ben managed to pick it up properly. “You’re not cut out for the life. And that’s a good thing. Do you know what you do when a Winchester leaves your life?” she took the sword back. “You thank him. You thank God, you thank _whatever_ you believe in that he did. You _don’t_ go back into the line of fire because Daddy hurt your feelings when you were eleven.”

“What makes you cut out for the life?”

“Daddy issues and no sense of permanence.” She flashed a sarcastic smile, which faded. “Always a dash of accepting your premature death as a teenager. Knowing there’s no way out, not really. And you know what? I _chose_ that. Because I was 18. Dean, he didn’t have a choice. So maybe you should thank him for trying to save you instead of being so ungrateful. Now, are you going to apologize for being a homophobic asshat?”

“I’m sorry, it’s still hard to get my head around the gay thing. I mean, gay people aren’t really _in_ Indiana.”

Well, that was a sentence he said. And if she was in here with him any longer, she was pretty sure she was going to punch him for it. “You’re gonna have to talk this out with Dean because he’s much nicer than I am, and you pretty much used up all your goodwill with me.”


End file.
